1. Field of the Invention
This application relates to wireless communications. More particularly, this application is related to a domain management scheme for authenticating and managing consumer electronics devices in a wireless communications environment.
2. Description of the Related Technology
In recent years, consumer electronics devices have increased both in functionality and popularity. Devices such as MP3 players have increased in storage capability such that they can store many songs at one time. Although personal computers and other devices having mass storage capability have become useful for storing digital multimedia files in digital multimedia libraries, due to their lack of media features and portability, consumers often wish to enjoy the stored digital media content via more portable and specialized and feature-rich consumer electronics devices such as MP3 players, digital video recorders (DVRs), laptop computers, high definition televisions (HDTVs), DVD players, and the like. To provide consumers with content portability, various schemes have been developed to enable the transfer of data between devices. One known scheme for sharing data wirelessly is 802.11, is the wireless local area network (WLAN) standard developed by the IEEE LAN/MAN Standards Committee (IEEE 802) in the 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz public spectrum bands. Because data transmissions using wireless technologies are over the air, they are susceptible to being intercepted and misappropriated if not adequately protected. Moreover, because accessing a wireless network can be accomplished without a wired connection, wireless security schemes such as Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP), Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA), and Robust Security Networks (WPA2/RSN) have been developed which limit access to wireless networks.
As content has become more digitized, it also becomes more susceptible to data piracy, as unauthorized copying and sharing of unprotected digital content is easily achieved using file sharing networks and other transmission media. As a result, digital rights management (DRM) systems have been created which give content providers control over redistribution and access to copyrighted material by limiting the ability of consumers to make unlimited copies of digital content and in some cases by limiting the devices on which digital content may be stored. There is a tension between the need for consumers of digital content to be able to legitimately and easily share content among their own devices and the need of content owners and providers to limit the ability to commit data piracy that is not adequately addressed by existing technologies.